Vietnamese is one example. Having tones attached to syllables means that words and sentences are shorter. In fact, the grammar is very logical and efficient compared to baroque European ones, especially of the slavic/baltic flavour.
But. The same mechanism in Indo-European languages is used for intonation. we express sarcasm, irony, etc this way be essentially using a single sentence tone.
I have some good Vietnamese friends explaining how hard it is for them to use (and hear) a sentence-wide tone. So, say, some of the fluently speaking Russian Vietnamese always sound like they are sarcastic.
Otoh, I always had problems ordering rice with pork in hanoi...
> Vietnamese is one example. Having tones attached to syllables means that words and sentences are shorter.
This does not entail that more can be expressed than other languages. Please see my other reply which goes into (admittedly only slightly) more detail.
Yes, sure, "expressability" is something that is hard to quantify.
Otoh, there should br some connection between grammar complexity and written culture. It is my hypothesis but, say, culture with a rich novel writing tradition leads to a complication of the language grammar. A 3 page long sentence, anyone? One can see how Middle Egyptian literature made the underlying language more complex.
Vietnamese is one example. Having tones attached to syllables means that words and sentences are shorter. In fact, the grammar is very logical and efficient compared to baroque European ones, especially of the slavic/baltic flavour.
But. The same mechanism in Indo-European languages is used for intonation. we express sarcasm, irony, etc this way be essentially using a single sentence tone.
I have some good Vietnamese friends explaining how hard it is for them to use (and hear) a sentence-wide tone. So, say, some of the fluently speaking Russian Vietnamese always sound like they are sarcastic.
Otoh, I always had problems ordering rice with pork in hanoi...